ROLLICKER

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date1 July 1923

Object number00040976

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionThe steam rescue tug ROLLICKER is shown arriving at Dawes Point, Sydney on Sunday 1 July 1923. This photograph was taken by Frederick Wilkinson from a passing vessel. The building in the background, far right, is the Pastoral Finance Association Wool Store, Kirribilli. The building was destroyed by fire in 1921 and remained a feature on the harbour for several years after.HistoryROLLICKER was a steel twin screw tug of 817 ton. Built in 1919 by Ferguson Bros Ld at Port Glasgow it was owned by the British Admiralty and registered in the port of London under a British flag.SignificanceThis photograph represents ROLLICKER and the role of tug boats in Sydney Harbour during the first half of the 20th century.

It is part of the F G Wilkinson Photograph Collection, comprising more than 700 glass plate negatives of ships in Sydney Harbour between 1919 and 1936. The collection provides an extensive and well-documented coverage of the changing styles of shipping in the port of Sydney before the gradual decline of the coastal trade, and in a period which was probably the peak reached by commercial shipping in Australia. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.